Archive for February, 2011

Another promo! What’s going on here? Well, better not to look a gift horse in the mouth. You keep sending ’em, this here blog will keep reviewing ’em. This one was particularly welcome as the label was good enough to have an actual vinyl copy sent – and because the label in question is Russell Haswell‘s Touch-affiliated boutique operation, Or.

The Automatics Group is Theo Burt and Peter Worth, from York, UK. Auto 17 presents a series of short tracks, produced by recording the raw output from various patches on a vintage analogue synthesizer (an EMS VCS 3, to be precise). Burt and Worth’s background seems to be in in academic composition and audio art, so they don’t take the approach you’d expect from analogue synth twiddlers (who tend to be stoned indie-rock hipsters). Instead of warm, atmospheric drones, this record delivers short bursts of startlingly alien sound.

The approach is distinctly abstract and formalistic. The pieces make no pretense to representing any particular mood or emotion or even to being music, in any recognizable sense. The results are both alienating and invigorating – bound to make the average listener reconsider his/her limited and platitudinous perceptions of what a vintage synthesizer can/should do.

There’s something about this record that recalls an analogue take on the lab-coated digital madness unleashed by first-generation Mego acts like General Magic and Farmers Manual. In the waveform realm, the nearest comparison would be to a severely time-constrained version of Coil’s experiments in time travel.

You can hear for yourself, by downloading this preview. Or you can watch this video of Theo Burt performing Auto 17-style material live…

This here blog doesn’t often get sent promos. But the Bubblegum Cage III’s world famous 800-page constitution specifically states that: “any promo CDs or records the blog does receive will – and indeed must – get reviewed (sooner or later)”. Which is one reason for this review of the debut album by Viennese avant rockers Nitro Mahalia. The other reason is that said album was released by the good people at Interstellar Records, who were responsible for that phenomenal “A Girl & a Gun” 7″ featuring Christian Fennesz.

The Nitro Mahalia sound will be immediately recognizable to fans of John Zorn’s Naked City and Mike Patton’s Fantomas – aggressive virtuosity applied to the aesthetic of cult movie soundtracks. If this self-titled CD doesn’t quite have the impact of those outfits, that’s probably down to the recording, rather than the band itself. Closing track “Ideas are Bulletproof” was recorded live at Vienna’s legendary Rhiz cafe and shows what Nitro Mahalia is truly capable of.

As you might expect from an album of this sort, it’s a mostly instrumental affair. Nevertheless, some of its highlights do come from a handful of appearances from guest vocalists. The new wavy “Victims” (pronounced “wictims”, of course) is particularly charming. It was worth getting sent the promo for this track alone, even if they did send a CDR, rather than the actual vinyl.

Track four from volume one. This one is a pretty crappy fan video with the audio taken from a skipping vinyl copy of 69. There’s no official video for this on YouTube but surely one was made, back in the day? Any insight into this would be much appreciated.

Ascoltare and Nochexxx are aliases of Dave Henson, an electronic music artist based in Cambridge, UK. What differentiates the two projects is not entirely clear. The Ascoltare material was apparently produced mostly with software, whereas the more recent Nochexxx releases are being produced entirely on a hardware-based setup. But you wouldn’t really know it, just by comparing Ascoltare’s superb B E A M album to Nochexxx’s “Ritalin Love” 12″. Both releases advance the same aesthetic agenda, using the same sonic building blocks. Henson’s sound is a curious mix of the tastefully ornate and the immersively grotesque – akin to an unlikely collaboration between Ricardo Villalobos and Nurse with Wound.

Oval is another obvious reference point, particularly for some of the more abstract Ascoltare tracks. On the more recent material, the abstraction is reigned in and the rhythmic element is stronger. Indeed, one recent Nochexxx 12″ actually came out on a particularly notable dance music label – Werk Discs, the super-hip post-dubstep imprint run by Darren Cunningham aka Actress. The record in question – “Smashing Your System”/”Sinbliss” – is doubly impressive as it’s a collaboration with legendary outsider emcee Sensational. Of course, the fact that it’s every bit as bizarre and brilliant as you’d expect is more than just the icing on the cake. Basically, it’s the perfect gateway into the deeply psychedelic world of Ascoltare and Nochexxx. So, what are you waiting for? Go buy it at Forced Exposure.